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Richard John Seddon
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in the evening of his days to the care of charity, and to create a defence against want in old age, and some measure of comfort for declining days, the pension was his special duty and care in acquiring for those who became eligible. Many of his old West Coast comrades of the early times, some of whom had drifted to other parts of New Zealand in search of a living, had occasion to keep in grateful memory that one great act of forethought for those who had not prospered in their active lifetime.

“In his busy years of later life, Mr. Seddon continued to represent Westland, where reposed the fullest confidence in the Member. Year by year along with Mrs. Seddon he made an annual visit to the electorate, and that was always a time for a round of visits to all and sundry. In particular old friends in the days of early struggles were not overlooked, and calls were made at many a wayside home for a grasp of the hand, a chat over a cup of tea, and an interchange of reminiscences of other days. Mrs. Seddon was a welcome visitor to every household, and was often approached by women with suggestions for the common good. In that way the telephone first went to Okarito, to give the southern women folk direct contact in emergency with a doctor. The wives of two settlers living some five miles apart by road, in a sparsely populated district, were granted a short-cut track reducing the distance to